Vigan at night...

Vigan is listed as a UNESCO’s World Heritage Site for being one of the best preserved examples of Spanish Colonial Town. The Philippines is the only Spanish colonial country in Asia, thus making the country very unique compared to the neighboring countries in South East Asia. But before the Spanish colonial times, Vigan used to be a coastal trading port of Chinese traders. So the architecture in Vigan is a combination of Philippine, Oriental and European/ Spanish architecture making the city very unique compared to the rest of the Philippines and the world.

Calle Crisologo at Night

It is one of the few extensive Philippine historic cities dating back to 1570’s when conquistador Juan de Salcedo, appointed by King Philip II of Spain arrived with Augustinian priests to make Vigan a colonial city. Since then, the city has been through wars from Spanish regime to American and Japanese wars. Calle Crisologo, the most famous street in Vigan is where most of the colonial houses are. Some of these houses were casualties of fire during the Japanese period and WWII. Extensive reformations based on its original structure were made and the city was preserved to showcase what it really looked like in the 16th century. Being so well preserved, it earned its title as a UNESCO World heritage city.